Yesterday we left for the clinic at 8:45 AM and arrived back
home at 3PM. Five of those six hours
were spent in the infusion chair. It was a LONG time! I watched other people
come and go, get hooked up and unhooked.
Only my fellow infusee in the next chair was in there almost as long as
I was and we chit-chatted a little when both of us were awake- although we both
drifted off a few times. He has
pancreatic cancer and has been on chemo for almost a year, too. He said he'd lost about 70 pounds since his diagnosis and lost all his hair at one point, although most of it has grown back now. He couldn't believe I had lost neither weight nor hair. He is a fairly
upbeat person, although most of the people I've talked to who come in for treatment the same
time I do are philosophical about the whole thing and are pretty upbeat. My chairmate told me there was no family
history of cancer, but that he had already lost a son to cancer several years
ago, before he himself was diagnosed. His son left behind a four year old and a
five year old child. We commented
how hard it is to watch a young person with
his or her whole life ahead of them be struck with this devastating
disease, and it does seem that an increasing number of younger people are being
diagnosed. I sometimes wonder whether it’s because diagnostic tools are much
more precise and are able to detect disease earlier, or whether there really is
an increase caused by environmental factors.
Yesterday was my third treatment with the Irinotecan
and Cetuximab. I did have one
mishap. On one of my trips to the
restroom, (and after all that liquid is pumped into one there are many trips, believe me) I managed somehow to pull the needle out of the port. That was
quite a shock and I didn’t have the presence of mind to close the clamps
on the tubing so I leaked a little of the chemo, but I’ll know to do that if it
happens again. Fortunately, the nurse was close by and got me rehooked straight
away. Except for the fatigue and the skin rash I’m tolerating the treatments well so far. I did go to sleep when we got home yesterday
and slept most all of the evening and into the night, with frequent wake up
calls by my bladder. I still feel tired this morning, and the rash and flushing are spreading
down my neck and onto my chest. Most of the acne-like pustules that formed
during the first and second treatments have pretty much cleared up, thanks in
part to the clindomycin gel the doctor prescribed- at almost $100 a tube. I
also had some eye problems that developed after the first treatment- my eyes
were crusted shut when I’d wake up and then start running and itching. That cleared up after a few drops of the
prescription eye drops. Now I am left with very red, very rough, very dry
and flaky patches of skin. I feel as
though tightly stretched alligator hide has replaced my skin! I have
switched from coconut oil to emu oil- I figured a bird might be a better
adversary for an alligator than a coconut would be and so far, so good.
I have been able to remain active, for the most part, attending events and working in the garden. On the Friday of the
off week between the first and second treatments I attended a wonderful
performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony performed by the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at one of their coffee concerts. These concerts, held in the
morning, are less formal, less expensive than the evening concerts and are not
as crowded. I have been lucky in being able to get my favorite
seats in the Dress Circle very close to the exit and almost in touching distance of the bass section. I also get a wonderful side view
of our marvelously dynamic conductor,
much better than looking at his back for the whole concert!
Our forty third anniversary fell two days after my second
treatment, on Friday, April 22. I slathered on some SPF
30 sun block, donned my hat and a long sleeved shirt and we celebrated by
attending the Magic City Art Connection, a wonderful three day show of arts
and crafts held in Linn Park in
downtown Birmingham. The weather
forecast hadn’t been too promising but
the rain, except for a few sprinkles, held off for the duration of the
show. It was great to visit some of my artist friends who had work for sale, to enjoy the live jazz music, and to run into two of
my favorite street photographers and a few other friends while we were there.
My gardening efforts are ongoing, but there is still a lot
of work to be done. We’ve had a few rainy days, which seemed to give a lot of
slow starters the impetus to get going. I t also gave the weeds a growth
spurt, so there’s always some good and
some bad effects when it rains. The beans are coming along nicely and will need to be thinned out, I think since
the seeds seem to have drifted and they
look quite crowded in spots. I planted out some of the calendula I’d
started from seed, some strawberries in the tub planter and Mr G dug up and moved a clump of Echinacea,
some Tagetes lucida, a couple of thyme plants and I re-potted some of the plants that go on the deck, so it does
look as though something has been accomplished. Today it’s quite windy, sunny and a little chilly, so in between
the weather and my fatigue I won’t even try to get out and work in the garden
today. Maybe tomorrow, because, after all, to plan a garden or to plant a seed is to believe in tomorrow.
